Chevy team speeds around Auto Club Speedway prepping for 2014 IndyCar season

Team Penske drivers Will Power, Helio Castroneves and Juan Pablo Montoya laugh with one another during a break in Indycar testing Monday February 10, 2014 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana. (Will Lester/Inland Valley Daily Bulletin)

Tony Kanaan (top) races along side Juan Pablo Montoya (bottom) during an Indycar test session Monday February 10, 2014 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana. Montoya has returned to the open wheel series after racing for a 8 years in NASCAR. (Will Lester/Inland Valley Daily Bulletin)

FONTANA >> It’ll be months before the IndyCar Series returns to Auto Club Speedway for its 2014 season finale, but nine drivers who will be pushed by Chevrolet engines were on the track Monday getting ready.

The condensed IndyCar schedule opens March 30 in St. Petersburg, Fla., and will close Aug. 30 in Fontana with the MAVTV 500. And, as far as Helio Castroneves is concerned, the opener can’t get here soon enough.

“I bummed because it’s been a long, long winter,” he said, referring to the absence of racing since the series ended the 2013 season last October at the same track, a race won by Team Penske teammate Will Power. “I just wish we started the season earlier.”

The one-day test was an opportunity for teams such as Penske, Chip Ganassi, KVSH Racing and Ed Carpenter Racing for work on various setups and adjustments. Ganassi switched from Honda power to Chevrolet for the 2014 so it was a chance for defending series champioon Scott Dixon and teammates Ryan Briscoe, Tony Kanaan and Charlie Kimball to test the new powerplants.

Briscoe and Penske’s Juan Pablo Montoya did not race at Fontana in 2012, although Montoya competed over the two-mile superspeedway when it first opened before his stints in Formula One and, most recently, NASCAR Sprint Cup.

“He’s up to speed, there’s no doubt,” said Castroneves of his new teammate, who tested at Fontana in December. “He’s a good addition to the team, he’ll make us better.”

It was announced on Monday that Verizon will sponsor Montoya at the Indianapolis 500 and eight more races in the 2014 schedule. Since 2009, Verizon has sponsored Power at Indy and teamed with Penske for 17 victories, 25 pole positions and 28 podium finishes.

“It’s back to basics,” said Montoya, who has slimmed down for his next challenge. “We ran together for the first time, but then Kanaan passed us. We even did a little drafting. The setup is one of my own, but we were running with an old motor.”

Power, who averaged 154.867 mph in winning the 2012 finale, said the victory was the best ever in his career. He finished ahead of Carpenter, who took the event’s inaugural checkered flag in 2012 and cleared the air about what many thought was a confrontation between the two after the race.

“I told him I thought I won the oval championship,” said Power, “and he told me there wasn’t one.”

There will be little rest after Monday’s test. Many teams will head north to Sonoma Speedway for another test. IndyCar has limited teams to 18 test days through the end of the 2014 season, which include full-size wind tunnel sessions. All teams will next test March 17-18 at Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama, April 30 at the new Indianapolis road course and Aug. 27 at Fontana before the finale.

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It was just the second day for Briscoe, who started his testing clock at Sebring.

“I’m just getting to know the team. I’m just getting started,” he said. “I have a pretty good feeling.”

It was also a day for open-wheel fans to get a look at the new teams. There was a number of fans in the terrace suites taking in the action. They also participated in a question-and-answer session later in the evening.

In addition. several Al-Alanbi Racing crew members, who crewed Khalid alBalooshi to the NHRA Winternationals Top Fuel dragster title on Sunday. They stopped by the track en route to the airport for a flight back to Indianapolis and low temps.